Cosmetic Uses
Toothache tree was used in frontier times and by native Americans as a
remedy for toothache, and also externally for joint pain. As many of you
experienced in class, a little piece of bark contains enough of the
secondary compound to produce a tingling sensation followed by numbness in
the lips or gums. The leaves work as well as the bark. In fact, if you hold
the leaves up to the light, you can see the small glands that produce the
secondary compounds scattered around in the leaf tissue. Obviously a
compound that causes numbness in vertebrate tissues would be an effective
deterrent to herbivores, because it would cause numbness and loss of
function in the digestive tract of any animal that ate the plant's leaves or
other tissues.

Most if not all members of this family produce "secondary compounds",
which are metabolic products that are not part of the primary metabolic
pathways of the plant (e.g. are not involved in photosynthesis or
respiration, nor are structural parts of the plant). The fruit, branches and
thorns are used as a remedy for toothache. The roots, stem bark and wood
yield the alkaloid magnoflorine.

Several Zanthoxylum species grow throughout the temperate belt of China,
Japan, the Himalayas and North America. They all have similarities, being
aromatic and used in herbal remedies. Only the pipertium variety of the East
is useful for cooking. In Japan the wood of the prickly ash is used to make
mortars and pestles which impart some flavour to the substances being
ground. The Japanese also use the wood for tobacco pipes. Szechwan pepper is
still fairly uncommon in the West, so it may be helpful when looking for it
to be familiar with some of the other common names and spellings for it:
Sichuan pepper, Szechwan pepper and fagara to name a few - see below for
others.